If you haven't watched the Colorado Avalanche since their awe-inspiring 2013-2014 season, not a whole lot has changed.

They still post subpar possession numbers. Semyon Varlamov is still pretty damn good at tending net. Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon are both still trending up, Matt Duchene is still underappreciated, and their defence is still one giant question mark.

The only thing that's changed? Their luck.

That, my friends, is the difference between a team being intentionally sub-par (a la the current Leafs) and unintentionally tanking their second consecutive season (a la the current Avalanche). Buckle up, ladies and gents - tonight is gonna be fun.

It's World Junior time, but it's also very close to CHL trade deadline time. With that comes all the excitement of watching prospects you've possibly forgotten about moving to new teams in hopes that they might get a few extra playoff games.

It's been an interesting week, and we can celebrate the fact that the Leafs are unbeatable in regulation over the past 5 games. Or if you want to be sour about it, they could have a three point cushion on the Blue Jackets in the race for Matthews if they could lose faster.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those of you read my posts and wish you all a happy holidays. Knowing that people read my writing and whether they agree with it or not, find it funny or not has also been therapeutic for me, and it seems like a good time to say "Thanks!". All the best (aka Stamkos and Matthews) in 2016!

With the 2016 World Junior Championships just days away, TLN will be revisiting some of the best performances by Maple Leafs prospects during past WJC tournaments. Today, we kick things off with one of the more controversial (and painful) stories.

Almost every year, one goaltender makes a name for himself on the world stage of the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships. Sometimes, we're lucky enough to see two excellent young netminders lock horns and go save-for-save, even when they're not playing against each other. Carey Price versus Semyon Varlamov in 2007 stands out as a great one, as well as John Gibson against Andrei Vasilevski (and Andrei Makarov) in 2013. We can also think way back to Dominik Hasek versus everyone in 1983 - a tournament that also featured Mike Vernon, John Vanbiesbrouck and Tom Barrasso.